


Fates and Fleeting Thoughts

by GrannyBoo



Series: The Fleeting Fates [2]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Love Confessions, M/M, Thoughts on Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-22
Updated: 2018-01-22
Packaged: 2019-03-08 07:25:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13453320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrannyBoo/pseuds/GrannyBoo
Summary: Caleb could smell blueberries.This fleeting observation wasn’t the strangest thing he’d ever noticed after waking from a long sleep, many of those being wild animals curling up with Nott in the middle of the night but on this particular occasion, he had no recollection of how he’d gotten into this bed or why there was a bowl of blueberries on the side table on his left.





	Fates and Fleeting Thoughts

**Author's Note:**

> Hey kiddie beans, after such a lovely reception for The Singing Cat, I thought I'd chuck you a part two, hope y'all enjoy!
> 
> Feel free to shoot me any fic requests on tumblr at agentoakysart

**_ Fates and Fleeting Thoughts _ **

Caleb could smell blueberries.

This fleeting observation wasn’t the strangest thing he’d ever noticed after waking from a long sleep, many of those being wild animals curling up with Nott in the middle of the night but on this particular occasion, he had no recollection of how he’d gotten into this bed or why there was a bowl of blueberries on the side table on his left.

Blueberries were his favourite food. Only Nott really knew that for sure so it wasn’t difficult to guess who it had been to leave them but it was most definitely not his goblin friend sitting in the chair at his bedside, snoring gently into his own chest as his head bent at an atrocious angle forward, slumped over while he slept.

He looked over the half-orc man, noting the specks of red now littering his cloth arm-wraps and flashes of the fight with the manticore filtered into his still-waking head. Caleb shifted in the bed, getting his arms braced enough to lift himself up into a sitting position. The rustling of the covers didn’t seem to alert Fjord to his movement thankfully so Caleb instead reached over, taking the bowl of blueberries from the table and picking at them slowly. His books were also on the side table but when he reached over to pick one up, his side twinged painfully and he couldn’t help the grunt of pain that escaped his lips and most definitely _did_ alert Fjord.

The half-orc’s snoring stopped abruptly and he nearly feel out of the chair, steadying himself enough to remain upright while his golden eyes darted around the room and landed on Caleb. He looked shocked. As if he didn’t expect Caleb to wake.

“Good morning?” Caleb murmured, hiding his wince by eating another blueberry, the fruit just the right amount of tart and sweet.

“Mornin’. How are you feelin’?” Fjord asked, sitting ram-rod straight, his hands clenched in his lap as if he had to physically keep them there lest they move on their own.

“I’ve had better days…thank you, Fjord. I nearly…I owe you a debt-“

“You don’t own me anythin’, Caleb. Ain’t no way I was just gonna let you up and die. That’d make me a pretty terrible companion,” Fjord replied with a small tense smile.

“I don’t just mean saving my life. If I had passed, at least I wouldn’t have been alone. I have always been a little afraid of that, I suppose,” Caleb mused in such a blank, off-handed way that it sent shivers up and down Fjord’s spine, that this man accepted the fact that he may die alone, bleeding out in a field. “But you stayed with me and I would have died knowing that Nott had friends to be with after. So thank you,” Caleb smiled gently, reaching out and placing a hand over Fjord’s tense knuckles. Fjord didn’t move. He sat stone still in that seat and breathed, Molly’s words from earlier echoing in his head…

‘ _Best not defy the fates.’_

“Caleb. I…I had somethin’ else I wanted to tell you,” Fjord murmured, hesitating before turning his hand over and curling his fingers around Caleb’s, unable to maintain eye contact. “I’ve been tryin’ to summon the courage to say it but…well I s’pose I’m not very brave in this sense,” he rambled, his cheeks and the tips of his ears growing warm under the gaze of his companion but he internally crowed at the victory of holding Caleb’s hand without the man instantly pulling away.

“I have feelings for you. Of the romantic variety. And I uh, I understand if they’re unreturned but I thought it best to come clean seein’ as we live in such close quarters, in case you wanted to…switch rooms with Molly or somethin’…” Fjord trailed off, daring a look up at Caleb. The man was also frozen, his tanned cheeks flushed red and lips parted in surprise.

“Caleb-“

“You have feelings for me.”

“I believe that was the long and the short of it,” Fjord chuckled nervously, moving to pull his hand away as his heart clenched in his chest but Caleb held fast.

“Fjord, would you permit me one more favour.”

Caleb’s voice was soft and his eyes held Fjord’s entranced and if it weren’t for the fact that this happened practically every time he looked at him, he’d say it was some sort of spell. But honestly, even if it was, Fjord couldn’t find it in himself to care. Fjord nodded, allowing Caleb to gently pull at his hand until he was standing, his hip nudging the side of the bed and Caleb guiding him to sit beside him, their hands remaining clasped between them.

“Would you grant me a kiss? As thanks for saving my life?” Caleb asked quietly with a smile, leaning ever so slightly forward, the tips of his fingers grazing at Fjord’s upper arm and Fjord took but a moment’s hesitation before he bridged the distance between them, his own free hand cupping Caleb’s jaw, pressing their lips together in a sweet kiss that slowly evolved into something more intense.

Caleb tasted like blueberries.

It was a single, fleeting thought that made its way through Fjord’s mind as they kissed before it was overtaken by the overwhelming feeling of _right_ that rushed through him. Fjord made a desperate noise low in his throat and waited until his lungs were burning before he separated from Caleb, but kept the distance minimal, their foreheads touching and noses brushing against each other’s whenever they moved.

“Please, feel free to ask as many favours as you’d like,” Fjord joked, the pair laughing quietly into the air between them. “But honestly, it stops being a favour when it feels like a privilege on my half.”

“Well aren’t you the charming one,” Caleb muttered, fingers curling a little more firmly around Fjord’s bicep while his smile showed the small dimples in his cheeks.

“I try to be.”

-

Hidden away in a corner of the tavern downstairs, Molly drew cards, laying them out on the table face down before turning them over. A familiar card lay in the centre, of two lovers embracing and he couldn’t help the grin that slipped onto his face.

“Smart choice.”


End file.
